A Fresh Start

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We were out last night to celebrate McAndy’s departure from the team … for the second time in twelve months. Tippler, Kirby and I were the last three standing and the conversation turned to interesting topics (What would be your last meal? Was George Best really that good? etc.). The subject of music kept rearing its head (helped by a good selection being played at the Coachmakers). Kirby and I were extolling the virtues of various musicians Tippler’s never heard of so I resolved, while I’m off, to make him a CD of top tunes.

I got a little carried away and ended up with two three four five hours of music across five fabulous disks.

I know you’re all hep cats, down with the kids and stuff, so I’m setting you a challenge: to identify ONE of the songs from the lyrics listed below. Really, really easy (well, some of them are).

Post your answer in the comments. All I want are the song titles (some of them are strange cover versions you’ll probably not have heard) and some artists feature more than once (so just because you’ve found one Frank Sinatra song doesn’t mean another song may be one of his … although there aren’t actually any Frank Sinatra songs at all).

Once entries have stopped coming in (I’ll give a few days’ notice) one name will be drawn at random to win a fabulous prize of some sort and I promise it’ll arrive in time for Christmas¹.

Let the lyricism begin … although I should warn you there are eighty six eighty five songs in all! *gulp*

[Update] To make things a little easier, I’ve added some info to chart singles - their highest chart position and the year in which the song entered the chart. Remember, though - just the one entry per person, please.

Disk One:

1. Back when I was younger they were talking at me [#15 in 1980]
2. My cassette’s just like a bazooka [#34 in 1980]
3. Loving you was easy - you were on my side [#20 in 1978]
4. I tried to laugh about it - cover it all up with lies comes from “Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure, tagged by a woman via IM
5. You only call me if you’re feeling blue [#17 in 1979]
6. If Adolf Hitler flew in today they’d send a limousine anyway [#32 in 1978]
7. Begged and borrowed sometimes I admit I even stole [#44 in 1977, #33 in 1989 (remixed)]
8. They put up a poster saying we earn more than you
9. The tap drips under the striplight and I’m sitting in the kitchen sink
10. I need a ticket - you’re my collector [#20 in 1979]
11. Happy to have, not to have not [#5 in 1983]
12. My aura smiles and never frowns. Soon I will be president
13. Down below those dandy clothes you’re just a shade too white [#48 in 1980, #2 in 1981]
14. She’s Mona Lisa’s biggest fan [#12 in 1978]
15. You’re married with a kid when you could be having fun with me. Joanie recognised this one. It’s The Specials’ “Too Much Too Young”.
16. Speeding out of Trumpton with a cargo of cocaine
17. There was one in the gang who had scalextric and because of that he thought he was better than you
18. Got a whole lot of money that’s ready to burn so get those stakes up high [#17 in 1964*]

Disk Two:

1. And now you are standing on my doorstep, telling me how much you need me
2. When the telephone rings my hands start to shake. Seems that I give so much more than I take
3. Police are gonna have to come and get me off your ass
4. DJ’s got the party started, there’s no end in sight [#1 in 2001* and 2002*]
5. I thought of you when they closed down the school and the hospital too His Eminence The Bishop recognised “Free World” - an excellent Kirsty MacColl track
6. I never took the smile away from anybody’s face [#17 in 1983]
7. Oh no, I know a dirty word. Hello, hello, hello, hello Lyle’s recognised this as coming from Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (but it’s Tori Amos’s … interesting version I’ve given Tippler)
8. It feels just like there’s a warrant out for my arrest - baby you got me checking in my rearview mirror
9. I remember when the days were long and the nights when the living room was on the lawn
10. They exchanged a look. An hour later her voice shook [#7 in 1983]
11. Can I take you to a restaurant that’s got glass tables? You can watch yourself while you are eating comes from “Mirror In The Bathroom”, spotted by Alan
12. When the thunder rolls it comes and covers up my soul and you will take my hand [#8 in 1984]
13. If you’ve found another guy who’s satisfied you more than I do [#6 in 1961]
14. A dead loss, no songs. No fun, just glum, lying next to someone
15. Hit the blunt of the bong, take your dope now my head’s in a cloud of smoke and no joke
16. I got chills, they’re multiplying comes from “You’re The One That I Want”, as covered by The Beautiful South and tagged by ‘im oop nawth
17. Liz Taylor is not his style and even Lana Turner’s smile is something he can’t see. Em eventually recognised “My Baby Just Cares For Me” by Nina Simone
18. After a long hard day selling pornography he likes to come home and talk to me

Disk Three

1. Cheikh Lô - Ne La Thais (I’m not cruel enough nor fluent enough to transcribe the lyrics to this!)
2. You fought hard and you saved and learned, but all of it’s going to burn [#1 in 1968]
3. I walk 47 miles of barbed wire, I use a cobra-snake for a necktie Karen’s recognised “Who Do You Love”. It’s Bo Diddley’s version I’ve put on the CDs.
4. Day upon day of this wandering gets you down. Nobody gives you a chance or a dollar in this old town
5. Didn’t I, didn’t I, didn’t I see you cryin’? Cheap Trick sang “I Want You To Want Me” and Daisy recognised it.
6. Tell me secrets of her days when she was young [#23 in 1991]
7. Johnny you rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard [#14 in 1979]
8. Nobody will ever let you know when you ask the reasons why. They just tell you that you’re on your own, fill your head all full of lies
9. You know that it would be untrue. You know that I would be a liar [#5 in 1979]
10. Well lay back and relax while I put away the dishes [#1 in 1979]
11. You’re the one girl in town I’d marry - Girl I’d marry you now if I were free [#1 in 1975]
12. I don’t want no sympathy, ’cause I done cut my good man’s throat
13. Have ‘em pull off my coat but keep on my vest. Babe, I wanna find the gal that’s best
14. Now you say you’re lonely. You cried the long night through [#22 in 1957*, #27 in 1983*, #23 in 1985* - three different artists]
15. Come here my baby, oh they can’t touch you now. I’ll keep you safe and warm. I’ll never leave you at all [#1 in 1985]
16. I know every engineer on every train, all the children and all of their names JonnyB knows this one, of course. It’s “King of the Road”

Disk Four

1. We spent the night in ‘Frisco at every kind of disco. [#8 in 1978]
2. Take fly boss walk jam nitty gritty comes from “Dub Be Good To Me” by Beats International. Gordon knew this.
3. More tanks than food in the Ogaden - it looks like Moscow got it wrong again [#19 in 1986]
4. We came across the west sea. We didn’t have much idea of the kind of climate waiting [#18 in 1978]
5. Boys stood upon their chairs to make their point of view
6. Stand up, all victims of oppression for the tyrants fear your might
7. Black man rhythm with a white boy beat [#9 in 1979]
8. I don’t want your books on Marilyn or Bobby D. I don’t want your records, your pictures or anything [#5 in 1988]
9. I come awake with the gift for womankind. You’re still asleep but the gift don’t seem to mind
10. When routine bites hard and ambitions are low and resentment rides high but emotions won’t grow [#13 in 1980, #19 in 1983, #19 in 1995 (remixed)]
11. Diffusing the sunshine, the clouds of the storm. Where does love go when the life you loved is gone?
12. I always flirt with death. I look ill, but I don’t care about it [#57 in 1992]
13. Sitting in a corner in imperfect clothes, trying not to pose for the cameras and the girls - it’s a glamorous world [#25 in 1981]
14. Encino is like so bitchen
15. They got their surfboards and they’re going to the Discotheque A Go Go [#22 in 1977]
16. Living on the paper periscope. Hot dog life cold for the antelope [#70 in 1978]
17. I walk in a bar and immediately I sense danger. You look at me, girl, as if I was some kind of a, a total stranger
18. It’s amazing how pretty you looked on that night. Your skirt was so short and your top was so tight. (I didn’t expect anyone to get this one but Andy Bantock proved me wrong. It’s from “Nothing At All” by Adam Kay & Suman Biswas. You have excellent taste in tasteless records, Mr Bantock!)

Disk Five

1. The chills that you spill up my back keep me filled with satisfaction when we’re done, satisfaction of what’s to come [#2 in 1990]
2. What’s cute about a little cutie? It’s her beauty, not brains.
3. Strong boys attack - it’s a nation’s virility²
4. C-C-C-Come, come inside [#4 in 1976]
5. You drink your coffee and I sip my tea [#8 in 1981]
6. If I should go astray and say “I lost my way” nobody would know me
7. Ain’t no doubt she’s a natural. Reelin’ and a-rocking and she’s yelling out for more.
8. Well now, everybody runnin’ ’round talkin’ ’bout saving souls when they know good and plenty well they got enough trouble trying to save their own
9. I and Braggar, and Junior Lee, well that’s the way we always thought it would be
10. I would be the one who after all is laid inside out in the bed that you made
11. Can’t you see I’m living in your world? I try to move and I try to choose but the grip is strong ’cause I feel the music in the rain
12. Caroline laughs and it’s raining all day. She loves to be one of the girls [#43 in 1981, #18 in 1986 (re-recording)]
13. She’s from Birmingham way down in Alabam’. Croila recognised this as coming from “Black Betty”, sung by Ram Jam
14. With a face like a crab’s bus ticket and skin like a llama’s door mat he was always gonna struggle
15. She doesn’t let me speak to anyone else. She’s forcing me to live out this life by myself.
16. There’s a stain on my notebook where your coffee cup was [#51 in 1982]

* These are the original versions of these songs, not the versions on the CDs I’ve made
¹ Although I won’t specify the year
² I may have misheard these, though

Comment away below, but just the one song per person, please. 13 down so just 72 to go …